Seat grinding tool



Feb. 20, 1962 c. H. REYNER SEAT GRINDING TOOL Filed Oct. 19, 1959 INVENTOR. CHARLES H. REYNER Maw ATTORNEYS Avg v United States Patent 3,921,659 EAT G-RINDENG TOGIL Charles H. Rayner, Peteskey, Mich, assignor to Jay Bain, Petoskey, Mich. Filed Bat. 19, 1955, Ser. No. 847,165 1 Claim. {#Ci. 51-2ii5) My invention relates to tools for cleaning and refacing valve seats, and more particularly relates to improvements in valve seat grinding tools especially intended for refacing flush valve seats in tank-type water closets so as to make the valve ball seat and positively stop the passage of water into the toilet bowl.

it is an important object of the invention to provide an improved tool which can be held in position with one hand and rotated with the other hand with reasonable facility, and wherein the grinder is so shaped that small errors in the position of the axis of rotation of the tool with respect to the axis of the seat to be ground will not cause errors in the face ground on the valve seat.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tool of unitary structure which need not be clamped to any part of the flush tank or stand-pipe assembly therein when the tool is being used to grind the valve seat, the tool having a rigid member joining its lower end including the grind ing wheel with its upper end including a hand-grip and crank means for rotating the grinding wheel.

it is another important object of the invention to provide a tool to reface a flush valve seat without the necessity of removing the valve ball assembly from the flush tank, or more specifically, without disassembling the valveball supporting bracket which usually is mounted on the stand pipe within the flush tank. For this purpose, the tool is built with an offset in the rigid member joining its upper and lower ends so as to provide a greater clearance between the upper portion of the tool and the stand-pipe valve-ball and bracket assembly.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent during the following discussion of the drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of a tool according to the present invention disposed in operative position next to stand-pipe and flush valve seat fixtures, the valve seat and part of the standpipe being shown in cross section;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section view taken along lines 22 of FIG. 1; and

PEG. 3 is an enlarged section view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a flush valve fixture F having a valve seat S at its upper end and having a stand pipe P extending upwardly above a chamber C which joins the bore of the stand pipe with the main portion through the fixture F, the above parts all being conventional and well known in the watercloset art.

A tool according to the present invention is shown in operative position next to the stand pipe P, and this tool includes a rigid tubular suppoiting member 1 having a bore in extending therethrough and housing a flexible drive shaft cable 2 which can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 3.

A metal sleeve 3 is carried on the rigid supporting member 1 near the upper end thereof and has a flange 3a through which a set screw 4 is passed, which set screw when tightened on the rigid supporting member 1 holds the sleeve 3 in place thereon. A hand-grip 5 is carried on the sleeve 3, and may be made of any suitable material such as wood or plastic.

At the upper end of the tool there is located a crank assembly including a radial crank arm 6, a handle 7 rotatably fixed to the crank arm 6 by swivel means 7a, and the crank arm being connected with a hub 8, the hub having a smaller bore 8a to receive the upper end of the v aazrass hatented Feb. 20, 1962 flexible drive shaft 2 and having a larger bore 8b which is slightly larger in diameter than the outer diameter of the rigid supporting member 1, the latter extending upwardly into the bore 8b and forming therewith a bearing for'the crank assembly. The flexible drive shaft 2 is rigidly secured in the bore 8:: by means of one or more set screws 9. Thus it can be seen that the crank assembly is journaled on the upper end of the rigid supporting member 1 at the bore 8b and that when the handle 7 is rotated around the axis of the rigid supporting member 1, the crank rotates the flexible drive shaft 2.

The drive shaft 2 extends downwardly through the entire length of the rigid supporting member 1 and extends through a small bore 10a in a bushing 10. The bushing 10 also has a larger bore 1% which is slightly larger in diameter than the outside diameter of the rigid supporting member 1, which extends into the bore 1%. The bushing 10 is thereby journaled on the lower end of the rigid supporting member 1 and the set screw 11 is threaded into the lower end of the bushing 10 to rigidly clamp the flexible drive shaft 2 within the bore 10a. Thus it will be seen that when the crank assembly is rotated at the upper end of the tool, the bushing 10 rotates therewith at the lower end of the tool. The bushing Ill also encloses a shoulder lllc at its upper end and this shoulder acts as an abutment for a washer 12 which bears against the upper surface of a grinding wheel 13. Another washer 14 bears against the lower surface of the grinding wheel 13, and a nut 15 is screwed onto the threaded lower end 10d of the bushing 10. The shoulder like may be provided with hexagonal flats on its outer periphery so that a wrench may be applied thereto to prevent rotation of the bushing 10 while the nut 15 is being tightened to secure the grinding wheel 13 in place for unitary rotation with the bushing 10.

The grinding wheel 13 is provided with arcuate grinding surfaces 13a which may be in the form of a segment of a sphere, this form being desirable in view of the fact that small angular misalignments between the axis of the grinding wheel 13 and the axis of the main bore through the fixture P will not cause errors in the shape of the face ground in the valve seat S. The rigid tubular supporting member 1 is offset as at 1b, FIG. 1, so as to space the hand-grip 5 on the upper portion of the rigid supporting member 1 away from the stand pipe P, as well as the ball valve and supporting bracket therefor which are normally mounted on the stand pipe P (these parts not being shown in the present drawing). This offset makes it possible to grind the flush valve seat without necessity of removing the ball valve assembly from the stand pipe P. It is the presence of the ofiset 1b which. makes it necessary to use a flexible drive shaft 2 of the type employed in speedometer cables.

I do not limit my invention to the exact form shown in the drawing, for obviously changes may be made therein within the scope of the claim.

I claim:

A tool for resurfacing the seat of a flush valve fixture,

comprising a rigid tubular supporting member; a flexible drive cable extending through the tubular member and rotatable therein; a crank arm radially disposed with re spect to the axis of the cable and having a hub with a bore therein, said hub being fixed to one end of the cable and being journaled on the adjacent end of the tubular member with the latter extending into said bore; a handgrip fixed to said tubular member near the crank-arm end thereof; and a grinding assembly fixed to the other end of the cable and comprising a bushing having a shoulder around its outer periphery and having a bore extending partway into the bushing through its shoulder, said bore rotatably receiving the other end of the tubular member and said bushing having a smaller bore fixedly receiving said cable, said outer periphery being threaded, a grinding wheel mounted on said bushing; and nut means screwed thereon and retaining said Wheel against the shoulder, said fixture having a stand pipe adjacent the seat, and the portions of the tubular member adjacent its ends being mutually parallel and axially offset near said bushing and joined by curved intermediate portions of said tubular member, whereby the spacing between the stand pipe and the axis of the tubular member is greater at the hand grip than at the grinding wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gray Nov. 5, 1929 Goldberg Mar. 26, 1935 Martindale et al. Apr. 13, 1937 Hill et al Nov. 16, 1937 Kuhlman Nov. 16, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Australia Nov. 19, 1954 

